Disk plow and frame for same



July 30, 1929..

A. P. M KAY DISK PLOW AND FRAME FOR SAME Filed May 17', 1926 sSheets-Sheet July 30, 1 A. P. M KAY DISK PLOW AND FRAME FOR SAME sSheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 1'7, 1926 July 30, 1929. A. P. McKAY I DISKPLOW AND FRAME FOR SAME Filed May 17, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet Fatented July30, 1929. 1

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE.

AUGUSTA POSTELLA MGKAY, or EoME, GEORGIA, nssronon TO TOWERS & SULLIVANMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF ROME, GEORGIA, Aoo roEA'rIon 0 GEORGIA.

DISK PLOW AND FRAME FOR SAME.

Application filed May 17, 1926. Serial No. 109,685.

The present invention relates to improvements in disk plows, and has foran ObJBCl] to provide an improved plow frame constructed and arrangedwith reference to the wheel supports and disk mountings as to secureimproved strength and resistance to the tortional strains set upincident to the use of the disk plows, and whereby also an effectivedistribution of the weight is had to oppose the tilting tendency in theframe resulting from the reaction of the disks upon the soil.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means for theraising and lowering of the plow with particular reference to theoperator who, under present day practice, is seated upon a tractor usedfor drawing the plow. Under this practice it becomes necessary that theraising and lowering device be within easy reach of the tractor seat atall times, and this for many reasons is impracticable with the wellknown system of levers now in general use.

The invention also contemplates certain improved constructional parts inthe plow frame, steering mechanism and disk mounting's, whereby ease inoperation, great strength and economy in production are se-,

section taken on the line 4 i in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a front elevation of the spring support for the raising andlowering device. Figure 6 is a cross section taken on the line 6-6 inFigure 2.

Figure 7 is a similar section taken on the line 7'? in Figure 2.

Figure 4 1s a fragmentary longitudinal,

Figure 8 is also a cross section taken on the line 8-8 in Figure 2.

Figure 9 is a front elevation of thedisk support.

Figure 10 1s a cross section, with parts shown in elevation, takenthrough the guide lever and support for the raising and loweringmechanism.

Figure 11 is a fragmentary elevation, with parts shown in section, ofthe movable stand of the raising and lowering device, and

' Figure 12 isa section taken on the line 12- 12 in Figure 11.

Referring more partlcularly'to the drawings, 14 designates an elongatednarrow bar forming the front portion oft-he frame and being reinforcedby the central upstanding rib 15, which terminates short in the enlargedhead 16 of the .bar to which is pivoted as on the fulcrum 17 av bellcranklever 18 carrying the clevis 19 for attach ment to the draw bar ofa tractor.

, The clevis 19 is carried forwardly of the head 16 by one branch arm ofthe bell crank lever 18; while the lateral branch of this bell crankleveris pivotally coupled to an end of a link 20 extending back alongand" above the neck bar 14: and preferably being twisted at some pointintermediate its endsto strengthen the barv and to enable it to be madeof thin strap metal. This metal is therefore enabled to lie along sidethe lever 21 to which it is attached as by the bolt 22.

the bolt 23 to the web or reinforcing rib l5'of the neck bar 14. shownin Figure 10, whereinthe neck bar is shown to be of channel constructionhaving downwardly extending side flanges 24 and 25. These flanges aretherefore offset from the reinforcing rib 15, which extends upwardlyfrom approximately the central portion of the neck bar. The lever 21isadapted to swing about the bolt 23 and for this purpose a flangedbushing'26 is fitted about the bolt. 23 and in an opening in the-lowerend of the lever 21. In a similar way' the link 20 is fitted to the bolt22 passing through the lever 21 at-a point above its lower end by asimilar flanged bushing 27.

The lever 21 swings back and forth in a plane coincident with thedirection of move- This, construction is 'The lever is bolted at itslower end as by ment of the machine or the longitudinal center linethereof, and the lever carries a spring-pressed latch 28 under thecontrol of a hand grip 29. 1 The latch is adapted to fit in the teeth ofa segmental rack bar 30.

By gripping the handle or upper end of the lave-r21- the hand grip 29may be at the same time squeezed in the hand and the latch 28 withdrawnfrom the segmental rack 30 to enable the lever to be swung about itsfulcrum point 23 and consequently through the link to adjust the clevis.The rack bar is bolted to the web or rib-15. v

The web 15 intersectsa flange 31 and ex tehds to and joins with acompanion flange 32. The flanges 31 and 32 are curved in form and spacedapart and they stand up at the opposite edges of the curved frame memberor casting 33; The casting 33 origi- P nates approximately at the rearend of the neck bar 14-, and the neck bar is widened at thisarearportion where it merges into the flange 31- and casting and theflange 31ex tends completely across the wider rear end portion of the neck bar'14 in a sweeping curve and it is curved to the forward end of the'inner flange The inner flange is preferazbi higher and the flanges arejoined and rein orced' by the re'ar'portion of the web or rib'15; Theseflanges and the casting the tailfia-nge 37. From this point of junc-'ture thetlail flange 37 i's directed rearwardly insubstantial'ly thedirection of movement of the machine and an apron extends outwardly fromthis tail flange 37 joining at its forward end to the inwardly directedend portion of the outer flange 31.

.The casting extends in an arc to one side ofthe neck bar 14 and at itsends it is provided" with the spaced and substantially parallel"supports 39 and 40 which lie diagonally with respect to the longitudinalaxis of the frame; These supports or hangers 39,. and 40' are adaptedtotcarry the disk plows 41 and 42 and these plows are mounted; forrotation upon the pins 43 shown in Figure 8. The: pins and theirbushings 44 are fnount'ed in tapered sockets 45- carried 31;. the lowerportion of plates 46, shown in Figure 9, which plates are'providedwiththe openings 47 for the attaching bolts 48, which passthrough thesupports or hangers 39 and 40 The plates have their lower ends reducedand bent outwardly to give the disks the proper inclination. The plates46 are furtherprovi-ded with the enlargements 49 and 50 along theiropposite vertical edges and at the inner sides of the plates 46 are thehorizontally extending shoulders 51., which take beneath the supports orhangers 39 and 40, as shown in Figure 8.

The disks 41 and 42 are shown as spaced both longitudinally andlaterally and they are offset diagonally in accordance with the usualpractice. structe'dwith view tomeeting the resistance and the reactionset up by disk plows so arranged and disposed as will be later explainedI i The rear plow support or hanger 40 is provided with a leg 52substantially parallel tot-he roar-most portion of the tail rib 37 andthe tail rib and the leg 52 join with op zosite enlarged ends of thesleeve 53. The axle 54 is received through this sleeve as shown inFigure 6 and bolts 55 in any suitable number are passed through the axleand sleeve to support the axle and avoid its rotation. The axle carriesthe ground wheel 56. The otherground wheel 57 is offset rearwardly fromthe companion ground wheel 56 and is carried in a supplemental frame53having the arms 59 and 60, which re fitted to rotate about the axle 54at opposite ends of the sleeve 53. The bolts 55 passing through thesleeve also serve to hold the supplemental frame 58 againstlongitudinalor axial motion on the axle 54. The rear portion of thesupplemental frame 58 carries the tnbular bearing 61 in which is fittedthe stub shaft 62 for carrying the ground Wheel 57. The shaft ispreferably held in the tubular bearing and against mo- 'tion by use ofthebolt 63.

The supplemental frame 58 is provided. with an upstanding web64-at itsenter side to which is coupled as by bolts or other suitable means apost 65 useful for swinging the supplemental frame about the and thusadjusting the depth of the disk plows. The wheel 57 carried by thisadjustable frame tracks in rear of the rearmost disk plow 4.2, while theweight wheel 56 is at the outer end ofthe elongated axle 54 and isspaced from the frame and from the disks. Any number of weights may befitted to this wheel or its axle in accordance with prevailing practice.The post 65, shown in Figures 1,11 and 12 extends up wardly from the web64 of the supplemental frame and is passed through a yoke 66 providedwith an opening to receive the post and having the upstanding arms 67and 68 perforated near their upper free ends to receive trunnions 69 and7 0 upon the swivel nut 71 through which the screw rod 72 is threaded. Acollar 73 is fitted about the post 65 above the yoke 66 and is securedto the post as by the cotter pin 74. The post projects above the collar73 and receives at its upper end an opening in the U-shaped brace 75,the arms of which are secured as by the rivets 76 and 77 to the side Thecurved frame is conbars 67 and 68 of the yoke. I The yoke carrying theswivel nut 71 is thus free to turn on the post 65. In other words theyoke is swivelly mounted about a vertical axis and the nut 71 isswivelly mounted in the yoke about a horizontal axis. This permits theyoke and nut to accommodate itself to changes in positions of the partsto which they are connected.

. The screw rod 7 2 extends forwardly abovethe disks and at its forwardend into and through a shell or casing 7 8 having lateral trunnions 7 9mounted in the arms of a yoke 81 similar to the yoke 66. This yoke ismounted for movement about the vertical axis of the standard 82 and itis supported on the standard by means of the collar 83 pinned to thestandard and engaged at its upper end by the U-shaped brace 84: rivetedto the side arms 80 of the yoke 81. This construction is shown in Figure10. 1 The shell 78 is thus permitted to move universa-lly about bothvertical and horizontal axes. The shell and its associated parts areshown more particularly in Figures 3, 4t and 5.

In Figure 41: particularly the shell is shown as being contracted at itsend 85 to provide an internal shoulder for the series of antifrictionballs 86. A collar 87 takes against these balls at the opposite end andthis collar is secured by the pin 88, or otherwise to the screw shaft72. A second series of balls 89 is mounted against the opposite side ofthe collar 87 to take up the end thrust of the screw rod. The latterballs 89 are confined by a sleeve 90 fitted about the screw rod 72 andhaving an outer plate 91 extending against the flange 92 on the forwardend of the shell 78 and aflixed to this flange 92 as by the countersunkbolts 98. The plate 91 is provided with the forwardly extend ing rim 94having a number of notches 95 therein. These notches are shown to dividethe rim 94% into quadrants, or in other words to be, located at 90degrees apart; but any number of notches may be provided.

These notches are arranged to cooperate with a dog 96 upon an operatinglever 97, which is provided with the forwardly extending handle 98for-purposes of rotation. The lever 97 is provided with the elongatedslot 99, as shown in Figure 3 to straddle the collar 100 of the deviceshown in Figure 5. This device is a spring support or spring backer andit is secured to the screw rod 72 by the use of a pin 101, which alsoextends outwardly and through the lever 97 in order to form a rockingjoint for the lever 97 to enable the lever to rock the dog'96 into andout of engagement with the notches 95. A coil spring 102 acts to holdthe dog 96 in one of the notches 95 and this coil spring is seated in asocket 103 in the end of the lever 97 opposite the handle 98. The spring102 engages about a stud 104 on an arm 105 forming part of the springsupport or backer. The arm 105 extends radially from the collar 100 andthe boss 104 extends through the coil spring 102 and partially into thesocket 103. V

In operation of the invention, it is to be understood that the disk plowis in reality a turning plow, are provided with a land-side, of whichare First, to support the plow share against depressing stresses,thereby assuring a furrow of uniform depth;

Second, to support the plow share against the lateral pressure of themoldboard, thereby securing uniformity in the width of furrows. Thelandside also relieves the plow frame, or beams, of excessive sidethrusts, which result from obstructions being encountered by the angularportions of the plow share and the moldboard.

The disk plow has no landside. Therethe functions fore, all side thrustsand depressing strains,

together with the torsional stresses resulting therefrom must be borneby the plow frame, because the wheels function as landsides, and thestrains described above must be trans mitted to the wheels through themedium of the plow frame and the axles. Thus it will be seen thatrigidity is one of the most essential qualities of the disk plow frame.

Untll quite recently, the idea prevailed among disk plow designers thatit was necesloo sary to make each plow a self contained unit so far asits supporting wheels were concerned, that is to say that each plowprovided with three wheels regardless of the number of disks carried,and these wheels were arranged so that after the plow had made its firstcut around a land and started on the second round, the front wheel ranin the furrow previously cut by the rear disk, thus serving as aland-side in its relations to the front disk: The rear but all otherturning plows wheel running in the furrow behind the rear disk,functioned as a land-side in relation to the rear disk, while the thirdwheel ran out on the unplowed land and served to balance the plow in anupright position.

In the above described cases, the plows were connected to the tractor bymeans of a more or less flexible hitch, which did not support any partof the weight of the plow, nor receive any of the strains describedabove, its only function being that of a draft mechanism.

In the present type of two wheel disk plows, to which the inventionappertains, the front wheel has been eliminated, as has also theflexible hitch, the main frame of the plow being projected forward so asto form takes its pro rata of the depressing strains and side thrusts;but since this draft mechanism is connected to the tractor draw bar bymeans of a short toggle or pivotal connection, it does not take its prorata of the torsional strains, these being'transmitted to the plowwheels through the medium of the plow frame and axles.

It has been proven by conclusive experiments that any appreciable amountof resiliency in the frame of this type of plow will permit the disk tobob up and down in he ground, which is due to the absence of a frontwheel to furnish a close-up support for the front disk. This bobbingmotion of the disks is accentuated by the rear wheel dropping into thelow places and then rising to mount the high places left in the bottomof the furrow as a result of the disks bobbing-up and down, andeventually this bobbing develops into an undulating motion, which causesthe plow to rise and fall like a small boat riding heavy waves.

It will be noted that the trouble described above is not due to the plowcrossing small ridges on the surface of the ground. Infact this troubleis less apparent when crossinga continued series of small ridges thanwhen plowing on an apparently smooth sur face. It seems that a series ofsmall ridges has a tendency to break the sway of this undulating motion,which becomes more or less uniform on smooth surfaces and especially insoft ground.

The above described trouble, in addition to causing unsatisfactory work,soon results in undue wear and elongation of bolts and rivets when theseare used to assemble plow frame which is composed of a multiplicity ofparts, and it is obvious that a plow of this type will not work at allif permitted to become shackly.

For these and many other reasons well known to those in this art therigidity is probably the most important factor inthe frame of a plow ofthis type; The rigidity with relation to torsional strains is especiallyimportant.

It will be noted that when the disks are raised out of the ground, theweight of the plow is supported at three points, namely, at the hitch19', wheel 56 and wheel 57. When the disks are lowered into the groundand the plow startsforward,.there is a backward pressure and a sidethrust and a downward pressure against the lower cutting edges of thedisks at points Panel Q Owing to the fact that the front disk 41,together with its supporting bracket, is projected beyond an imaginaryline of support which runs along line X, Y, Figure l, this imaginaryline of' support becomes the actual line of support. The weight of theplow together with the resisting forces already described; now restsuponthe hitch 19- and the wheel 57 while the wheel 56 acts a strength andrigidity in the cross sections of.

the frame of this type of plow It will be seen that the combination offorces described above, namely, the backward and" downward pressure andthe side thrust developed by the disks, operating against the loweredges of the disks, will be resolved into a torsional strain,- which: Istransmitted to the plow frame at point A anddistributed in alongitudinal direction along the dotted line AB and line C-B', crossingthe line of support at point Land terminating near the pointof ballastat B. These torsional strains acting on the lines indicated show thenecessity for the heavy fianges32 and 37. These flanges, together withthe ribs, which connect them with flange at th'e' numerous points shown,reinforce this line torsional stress and make for a very highdegree ofrigidity in the plow frame.

Moreover themain line of support is greatly reinforced againstresiliency by means of the flange and the rib 15, both of which areagain reinforced by means of the flange 31 which extends on both sidesof the rib 1 5 or in other words intersects this rib.

The construction described does with the necessity for a front wheel andalso avoids any bobbing up and downof the plows, particularly the frontdisk l-L which is the most diflicul't; to control.

The raising and loweriing device is operated solely through the handle98 which is at all times accessible tothe' driver upon the seat of thetractor in front. This handle is rotated and is disengaged from itslocking mechanism by pulling forwardly upon the handle 98, so that theoperation may be achieved-by one hand while the other is left free forthe control. of the steering mechanism and other necessary operations onthe tractor. The'ro tary handle 98 l'iasbeen developed because of thediiiicul-ty encountered with the lever system of control. The lever isdiilicult of access because it swings wide and" without the reach of theoperator on the tractor seat and the lever apparatus is dificult tooperate in hard soils. With the stop arrangement the crank handle may beinstantaneously stopped and secured in any desired position and it Willtherefore yield a nice adjustment.

v In Figure 7 the flanges 31 and 32" are shown as extending below theplane of the beam or curved frame member 33. The lower flanges extend inthe same plane as the upper flanges 31 and 32 and thus the beam iscomposed of three elongated narrow strips, two of which, namely, theflanges 31 and 32 are disposed at right angles to the third strip,namely, the beam 33.

The elongated flanges will resist torsional specifically, describedembodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof,such changes and modifications be ing restricted only by the scope ofthe following claims What is claimed is 1. A disk plow comprising anelongated narrow neck bar, a reinforcing rib extending lengthwise ofsaid neck bar, a curved beam made in one piece with said neck bar andextending rearwardly and laterally thereof, said beam having spacedupstanding flanges at its edges, the outermost flange intersecting saidrib of the neck bar, the inner flange receiving thereagainst the end ofthe rib, supports for disk plows at the ends of said curved beam, andsupporting wheels for the rear portion of the beam.

2. A disk plow comprising an elongated narrow neck bar, a reinforcingrib extending lengthwise of said neck bar, a curved beam joined at itsfront end with the rear end of said neck bar, said beam having spacedflanges at its edges, the outermost flange extending around the forwardend of the beam and intersecting said rib of the neck bar, supportsfordisk plows extending from said curved beam, and supporting wheels forthe rear portion of the beam.

. 3. An integral plow frame having a neck bar and a curved beamextending rearward- 1y and laterally thereof, said beam having spacedupstanding flanges at its edges and said neck bar having a reinforcingrib extending lengthwise of said neck bar and intersecting the outermostflange of said beam and terminating against the inner flange thereof,said rib having means forwardly and rearwardly of said outer flange forsupporting a rack bar and also having means between said first means andforwardly of said outer flange for pivotally supporting a lever totraverse said rack bar, said neck 1 bar having at its outer end and inline with said rib means for coupling the neck bar to a draft device.

4. An integral frame for'disk plows and the like having a neck barprovided with a lengthwise extending reinforcing rib, and a curved framemember extending from the rear end of the neck bar, said curved memberhaving spaced upstanding flanges and spaced substantially radiallydisposed reinforcing means between the flanges, the rib of the neck baradmitting the forward portion of the inner flange of the curved member,and the outer flange of said member being arched forwardly around theforward end of the member and intersecting the rib to interbrace the riband flange structure and reinforce the juncture of the neck bar and thecurved member. I

AUGUSTA POSTELLA MoKAY.

